WubsTheFadger
Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerThe Sessions tells the story of a crippled man looking to lose his virginity. He gets the help of a sex therapist and tells his priest about it. The story, by nature, is extremely graphic. Nudity, sexual dialogue, and explicit sex scenes are all present in the film. The story is very interesting and the ending is very good.The acting is very good. John Hawkes does a great job portraying his character. He is a sweet man but his voice is very annoying. Helen Hunt also performs well. She is seen completely nude very often which is a plus. Her character is from Boston but the way she pronounces Mark is annoying. William H. Macy performs very well, his character is at time very funny. The pacing was a little slow for me but the runtime is short.Pros: Good story, good ending, great acting, seeing Helen Hunt nude in a lot of scenes, and a short runtimeCons: Mark's voice is annoying, the way Helen Hunt says Mark is annoying, and the pacing was a little slow.Overall Rating: 7.0
Jackson Booth-Millard
I remember this independent film being talked about on Film 2012 with Claudia Winkleman and Danny Leigh, it looked like something interesting, and it had some good names in the cast, so I was looking forward to it. Basically in 1988, in Berkeley, California, Mark O'Brien (Golden Globe nominated John Hawkes) is a journalist and poet, when he was younger he contracted poliomyelitis, and spends his life completely paralysed, requiring assistance to eat and drink, wash, get dressed and move around, and he has an iron lung (a mechanical respirator) to breathe on his own at night. Due to his condition, Mark has never had sex, he tried unsuccessfully to propose to his caretaker Amanda (Annika Marks), and he senses he may be near death, he decides he wants to lose his virginity. After consulting his priest, Father Brendan (William H. Macy), being a devout Catholic, and after talking to a sex therapist, he gets into contact with professional sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Helen Hunt), she explains that he is not like a prostitute, because it is not business, she will teach him everything to have a future loving sexual relationship. Cheryl tells Mark that they will have no more than six sessions together, with the goal of intercourse, Mark has the sense of touch, and he is maintain an erection, but he cannot masturbate and has never been close to a naked woman, so on their first session, after Cheryl undresses him, and she undresses, it does not take long for him to ejaculate when he gets overexcited. As they continue their sessions, they have to move location, to a motel, Mark continues to get overexcited when Cheryl allows him to touch her, and when she does try to get to the point of helping him to have intercourse, so she is patient in helping him get to the point where he can control himself, but they talk as openly as they can about things, without getting too much into her personal life. It becomes apparent, through the sessions, that Mark is developing developing romantic feelings for Cheryl, she is trying to remain professional, but Cheryl cannot help herself having feelings for Mark as well. Cheryl's husband Josh (Adam Arkin, Alan's son) loves her deeply, he is aware of what she does with her clients, hearing about Mark however he cannot suppress his jealousy, he withholds a love poem Mark sent Cheryl by mail, she does eventually find this. After several attempts, Mark and Cheryl are able to have mutually satisfying sex, but Mark makes the decision to make their fifth session their last, she agrees cutting their session short is will stop their burgeoning feelings. One day after the last session, Mark officially no longer a virgin, there is a power cut where he lives, his iron lung stops functioning, he uses his stick to use the telephone to call his friend for help, but he drops his stick before he can call emergency services. Mark however does survive his ordeal after being rushed to hospital, it is there that he meets and falls in love with a young woman named Susan Fernbach (Robin Weigert), throughout his life Mark had relationships with three women. In the end, Mark has passed away following complications from bronchitis, his friends and the women he came to know and love, including Cheryl, are attending his funeral, Father Brendan gives a thoughtful and personal eulogy, and Susan reads Mark's favourite poem, which he previously wrote for Cheryl. Also starring Moon Bloodgood as Vera, W. Earl Brown as Rod, Blake Lindsley as Dr. Laura White, Jarrod Bailey as Tony, Rusty Schwimmer as Joan, Rhea Perlman as Mikvah Lady and Ming Lo as Clerk. Hawkes gives a good performance as the sexually inexperienced and naive disabled man threatened by guilt from his beliefs, but desperate to fulfil his needs, Hunt is very good as the surrogate willing to teach him the tools he needs for the future, she seems comfortable being nude a lot of the time, and Macy is great support as the free-thinking priest helping him through the dark times and offering comforting advice. It is a very simple story, a man who cannot move losing his virginity, and slowly he has feelings for the woman who will eventually do it with him, and she feels the same, the fact that the story is true gives the film some depth, but it is not just a serious and schmaltzy film, it leaves room for a witty script and some funny moments as well, all in all it is a likable comedy drama based on a true story. Worth watching!
Howlin Wolf
I didn't feel like the scenes went by too quickly, so much as they just focused on the wrong people... It was interesting how the sessions affected his intimacy with other people (Amanda, Vera, and even the girl he met at the end... Susan?) but instead we focus on the more sensational aspects, and his development as a human being kind of gets shortchanged because of it... It makes sex the center of everything, when really it felt more like sex was just the gateway that helped to open up corners of his personality that were previously closed off.In a similar vein, having him fall in love with his surrogate also reinforced this, and was the wrong move for the movie, I felt (even if that's how it played out, in reality... ) It gives the impression that the emphasis should be on the person you get to have sex with, when really I feel like the companionship is the more important part of it. (I'm disabled myself, if that colours my interpretation of the movie at all, and I have had similar experiences to those depicted in the movie)Now, technically there was nothing wrong with the story that was told, but I just feel like some tinkering with the elements I mentioned would have made the viewing more fulfilling, for me... We can't all get the movie we want, I guess! Still, what it does cover, it covers well.
